It is OK to hate Catholics but.............?

Question

I want to be charitable but the facts are the reason so many are critical of the Catholic Church is based on misunderstandings and misconceptions spread and taught by ignorant or uneducated pastors who have no ability to discern Scriptures or anything else of God. This is sad because the information is readily available to explain these teachings and concepts but many Christians prefer to bask in their hatred and false notions about the Church. I think most Catholics would agree, if you wish to hate, hate us for what we do in faith and practice rather than the effigy or straw man you call Catholic with which no Catholic can identify. Is it unreasonable to ask that you verify in Catholic documents such as the Bible and Catechism to see if what you are accusing us of is true instead of spreading lies?

Dougness,

Actually those are half truths and illustrates well what I was saying. Investigate before accusing.

Josie,

You sound as one who believes in what the Bible says but has been led astray by false teachers who are consumed by hatred of Christ’s Church. I am sure that given a choice you would not want to bear false witness against others and spread lies and rumors. The fact is this is what you are doing because the Catholic Church teaches nothing that is not in accordance with Scriptures. All of the teaching of the Church comes from Christ and the apostles directly to His Church through the continuous apostolic succession established by Christ and the apostles. Absolutely nothing is man made, in contrast to non-Catholic churches which are almost entirely man made and in protest to Christ’s Church.

“Read your Bible.Does it say to canonize people”
Do you even know what it means to canonize someone, it is CCC828 of the Catholic Catechism. Know what it is before you decide to disagree.

“to call any one father on earth like you all call the pope and your priest father.”

St. Paul says to call a priest father and even Jesus called others father. The following explain the full teaching without the biblical contradictions your interpretation involves. http://restyo.blogspot.com/2007/08/why-call-priests-father.html

“Bible says you should not worship idols and what do the Catholic do? they pray to saints that they canonize (idols) I can go on and on that catholics do that are not in the Bible.”
Catholics do not worship idols but worship only God. We ask the saints in heaven to pray for us and we find in St. Johns Apocalypse that they do present our prayers before the altar of God. So we know tht our prayers are heard by the great cloud of witnesses who have already won the race. I do not know what you speak of when you claim we canonize idols, it must stem from your misunderstanding of canonization. Catholics have no idols or false Gods.

You mention reading the Bible and we Catholics certainly do because it is the recording by Catholics of our faith and practice, Since it was written by us under the inspiration of the Spirit, who could be better suited to interpret what is teaches. All I ask is that you study what Catholics believe before bearing false witness against them. Don’t do this because I ask you to but because such a sin is dangerous to ones eternal soul. In love, may the Lord have mercy.

Spiderhedron,

Did you know that the Catholic clergy have the lowest incidence of sexual abuse of any clergy. The estimates are 1/2 of 1% to 2%. compare that to Protestant groups such as the Southern Baptists who estimated their problem to be over 15%. Even public school teachers have a 10 time higher incidence of pedophilia than priests. With these figures in mind, it would put into great question your conclusion that it is caused by celibacy. In fact it would show that celibacy is a protection against abuse as logic would dictate.

I would suppose that your father was neither a priest nor a celibate person yet he was an abuser. So this is just another example of someone accusing Catholics without checking their facts and knowing what they are talking about. As always your hatred is misplaced.

BTW- Decades ago some Catholic priests were moved to other parishes after being accused of pedophilia. What most people don't know is why....the psychiatric community assured the Church that they could cure someone of pedophilia and these abusers were sent to treatment and before return9ng to a parish they were declared cured by the psychiatrists. this seems foolish today but at that time we did not know that this is incurable. The Church was trying to be charitable to these men they considered sick and made a gross error in treating them.

Answer 1

Every time you see someone persecuting the Catholic Church, or speaking falsely against her, be happy, because those people are merely helping Catholics to gain their eternal reward in Heaven.
It is a promise from Jesus Christ Himself.



"Do not be surprised, brethren, IF THE WORLD HATES YOU." 1John 3:13

"IF THE WORLD HATES YOU, KNOW THAT IT HATED ME BEFORE YOU.
IF YOU WERE OF THE WORLD, THE WORLD WOULD LOVE ITS OWN. BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, BUT I HAVE CHOSEN YOU OUT OF THE WORLD, THEREFORE THE WORLD HATES YOU.
REMEMBER THE WORD THAT I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU: NO SERVANT IS GREATER THAN HIS MASTER. IF THEY HAVE PERSECUTED ME, THEY WILL PERSECUTE YOU ALSO; IF THEY HAVE KEPT MY WORD, THEY WILL KEEP YOURS ALSO.
BUT ALL OF THESE THINGS THEY WILL DO TO YOU FOR MY NAME'S SAKE, BECAUSE THEY DO NOT KNOW HIM WHO SENT ME.
IF I HAD NOT COME AND SPOKEN TO THEM, THEY WOULD HAVE NO SIN. BUT NOW THEY HAVE NO EXCUSE FOR THEIR SIN. HE WHO HATES ME HATES MY FATHER ALSO. IF I HAD NOT DONE AMONG THEM WORKS SUCH AS NO ONE ELSE HAS DONE, THEY WOULD HAVE NO SIN. BUT NOW THEY HAVE SEEN, AND HAVE HATED BOTH ME AND MY FATHER;
BUT THAT THE WORD WRITTEN IN THEIR LAW MAY BE FULFILLED, 'THEY HAVE HATED ME WITHOUT CAUSE', (Psalms 35:19)".
John 15:18-25
I would say that Jesus Christ said it all in these verses written with the inspired pen of Saint John wouldn't you?
Name another Church which is attacked so much on a daily basis as is the Catholic Church?
Jesus Christ warned us, "You will be HATED BY ALL NATIONS for My Name's sake."
Matthew 24:9

"Blessed are you when men reproach you, and persecute you, and speaking falsely, say all manner of evil against you, for My sake. REJOICE AND EXULT, BECAUSE YOUR REWARD IS GREAT IN HEAVEN; for so did they persecute the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:11-12

Answer 2

Good plan: Oppose Catholics for their actual beliefs and practices, but not for comic book caricatures of Catholicism.

Case in point: The Conversion Center of Havertown, Pennsylvania, issued "10 Reasons Why I Am Not a Roman Catholic." These included:

"1. The papacy is a hoax. Peter never claimed to be pope. He was never in Rome."

It is true that Peter could not have used the term "pope" to describe himself, since the title was not conferred on the bishops of Rome during the earliest years of the Church. (Neither does the Bible claim to be "the Bible.")

1 Peter 5:13 implies that Peter went to Rome. Early Christian writers such as Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Lactantius all say Peter went to Rome, presided over the Church there, and was martyred during the Emperor Nero’s persecution. Archaeological excavations conducted from 1939 to 1968 have determined that Peter's bones lay beneath the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica.

"2. Maryolatry is a hoax."

Ironically, this is true. " Maryolatry" means the worship of Mary. The Catholic Church forbids Mariolatry because it forbids us to worship anyone other than God himself: "Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God." (CCC 2113, cf. 2110–2112, 2114).

There is a world of difference between honor and adoration.

"3. Purgatory is a hoax. It is a money-making scheme."

If so, it may be the least efficient scheme ever devised. It is indeed customary to give a priest a small stipend for celebrating a memorial Mass. This is a biblical practice, since Paul writes in I Tim 5:17-18:

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain," and "The worker deserves his wages."

"9. I am an American citizen and refuse to be the subject of a deluded Italian prince."

Since the last two popes have been Polish and German, the pamphlet may need an update. Since the Pope is an official of a kingdom not of this world, Catholics are not his "subjects" in political matters. In fact, we are all subjects of a Jewish carpenter from ancient Palestine.

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 3

It's not okay to hate anyone, Catholics included. You say your not racist but I can see from your comments about Muslims there is some discrimination left in you. That being said... When people make fun of Catholics they aren't making fun of you or even your faith, the are making fun of the fundamentalist intolerant people who presume to talk for God and look down upon everyone else. It's not right, but in this instance the disrespect is most definitely a two way street.

Answer 4

OK, if you feel that you are being hated for what you believe, should you not "rejoice and be glad," as Jesus taught?

I don't hate Catholics or Catholicism. I simply had to stop going to Mass when the pedophilia scandal broke wide-open about 6 years ago, and it came to light that the hierarchy had been secretly moving pedophile priests around, protecting them and letting them victimize even more kids. My own father was a pedophile, and this scandal simply struck too close to home for me to deal with it in the Church. So I had to leave. But I have no problem with those who chose to stay. The fact is, I'd probably go into a panic attack if I entered a Catholic Church now, but that's because of my own screwed-up personal history.

I haven't joined a Protestant church, though I did attend a service (and received Confession in) an Episcopal Church at a time I found myself in serious need of Confession.

The priesthood has, sadly, become a magnet and hideout for perverts like my father. The obvious solution is to ordain married men, and get rid of the requirement of priestly celibacy. That's clearly not going to happen under this Pope, whom I like far less than I liked John Paul II. I wish I could be more optimistic about the future of the Roman Catholic Church, but to me it seems to be suffering from a human-induced poisoning of its original divine character.

Answer 5

These answers show ignorance in Christ's Church and an uncharitable attitude towards Christ's faithful. It shows that there is very much hatred against the Church which was created by Christ and the disciples in favor of man-made beliefs and practices. It shows a lack of fear for God and His commandments that one would bear false witness against His Church. May we all pray for God's mercy for those so lost in hatred, so that they may find love and charity

This is a quote from Bishop Fulton Sheen that I love.

"There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church—which is, of course, quite a different thing. These millions can hardly be blamed for hating Catholics because Catholics “adore statues;” because they “put the Blessed Mother on the same level with God;” because they “say indulgence is a permission to commit sin;” because the Pope “is a Fascist;” because the Church “is the defender of Capitalism.” If the Church taught or believed any one of these things, it should be hated, but the fact is that the Church does not believe nor teach any one of them. It follows then that the hatred of the millions is directed against error and not against truth. As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do.

If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hates. My reason for doing this would be, that if Christ is in any one of the churches of the world today, He must still be hated as He was when He was on earth in the flesh. If you would find Christ today, then find the Church that does not get along with the world. Look for the Church that is hated by the world, as Christ was hated by the world. Look for the Church which is accused of being behind the times, as Our Lord was accused of being ignorant and never having learned. Look for the Church which men sneer at as socially inferior, as they sneered at Our Lord because He came from Nazareth. Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as Our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. Look for the Church which the world rejects because it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because he called Himself the Truth. Look for the Church which amid the confusion of conflicting opinions, its members love as they love Christ, and respect its voice as the very voice of its Founder, and the suspicion will grow, that if the Church is unpopular with the spirit of the world, then it is unworldly, and if it is unworldly, it is other-worldly. Since it is other-worldly, it is infinitely loved and infinitely hated as was Christ Himself. ... the Catholic Church is the only Church existing today which goes back to the time of Christ. History is so very clear on this point, it is curious how many miss its obviousness..."


Are you sure the people saying these things are Christians?

There are plenty of wolves in sheep's clothing.

I can't judge who is a Christian and who isn't, but they certainly don't sound like Christians.

"You shall know them by their fruit"

God bless!

Answer 6

I would like to invite some of the Catholic haters to our Mass, and then they will realise that we do follow the Bible, the Mass is beautiful, God's love is there and I love listening to the Gospel, which is from the Bible, the whole Mass is from the Bible

Answer 7

Chrysostom: the Jews are always degenerate because of their odious assassination of Christ. For this, no expiation is possible, no indulgence, no pardon

Adolf Hitler: I believe that I am today acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew I am fighting for the work of the Lord " [ Mein Kampf ]

Martin Luther: [ in his last sermon, four days before he died, ] called for practical measures: burn their synagogues, confiscate all books in Hebrew, prohibit Jewish prayers, force them to do manual labour, but, best of all, drive them out of Germany.

Adolf von Harnack: [ from 1890 - 1930 trained generations of Protestant pastors and exegetes. ] He said that to conserve the Old Testament constitutes a " religious paralysis " for the church; the Jews are the worst among the peoples, the most atheistic nation and of all the nations on earth the one farthest from God. They are the devil's own, the synagogue of Satan, a community of hypocrites ".



//

Answer 8

You use the word hate, very liberally. Hate Catholics, as in the way Christians hate Jews, or Jews and Christians hate Muslims? Nobody to the best of my knowledge has engaged in the wholesale slaughter of Catholics, for as long as I can remember. Choose a descriptive term other than the word hate, and then perhaps I will have an answer to your thoughtful question.

Answer 9

What? Sounds like the Catholics are finally being treated the way Pagans have been treated for years. People judging them out of ignorance and misconceptions....etc etc.

Answer 10

Christians do not hate.Catholic do not follow the Bible.With all the rituals you Catholic practice are all man made. Read your Bible.Does it say to canonize people, to call any one father on earth like you all call the pope and your priest father. The Bible said the only father is in heaven that is the only one we should call father it is in the Bible.And the Bible says you should not worship idols and what do the Catholic do? they pray to saints that they canonize (idols) I can go on and on that catholics do that are not in the Bible. The Bible is God,s Word. And should be followed and not added too by men or the pope.Read your Bible and then you will know the truth and God's Word....In Christ....Josie